Fire-escape.



No. 650,053. Patented May 22, |900. M. SHIRES &. J. 0.. A. KENNEDY.

FIRE ESCAPE.

(Application Bled. July 11, 1895.)

2 Sheets-.Sheet ll (No Modul.)

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'N0 050,053. Painted, may 22, |900. M. sumas & J. 0. A. KENNEDY.

2 sheets-sneer 2.

FIRE ESCAPE. (Application led July 11, 189B.)

(No Model.)

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v UNITED STATES 'PATENT' FFICE.

IrIIonAEL SIIIEE'S, orA SPRING MILLS, AND JOI'IN o. A. KENNEDY, or .IOIINS- TOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOES TO e. w. w. AMIcK, OF JonNsrowN,

PENNSYLVANIA;

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SEE'CIEICATION arming part of Letters Patent No. 650,053, dated May 22,1900;

Application tiled J'uly 11,1898. Serial No. 685,6 82. (No model.)

To all wwm t may concern: p

Be it known that we, MICIAEL SHIRES, residing at Spring Mills, in the county of Centre, and JOHN Q. A. KENNEDY, residing at Johnstown, in the county of Cambria, State` of Pennsy1vania,citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Fire-Escape, of which the following is a specication.

p Our invention relates to nre-escapes of that class which are to be applied to the wall of a room or apartment adjacent to and below the Sill of a window and embodying a rolled flexible ladder designed to be thrown out of a window and to automatically uncoil in its flight through the air; and the present construction is more particularly designed as an improvement upon the tire-escape disclosed by our prior Letters Patent, No. 374,633, issued December 13, 1887.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for attaching the ladder-cables to the roll-shaft in a simple, durable, and substantial manner; and a further object is toprovide an improved construction by which the flexible ladder-cables may be compactly wound or rolled on the roll-Shaft, so as-to enable the rolled ladderto take up a very small Space.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means for attaching the ladder-rung to the ladder-cable in asecure and substantial manner; and another object of the invention is to provide `means by which the strain or pull of the ladder when unfolded for use is relieved from the Windo`w-sill to an appreciable degree by devices which are fastened to the washboard or floor and the window-sill of a room or apartment in which the fire-escape is situated.

With these ends in View the invention con- Sists in the novel` combination of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts,whichwill be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Structure applied to the window-sill and Washboard on the inside of the room. Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective View of the escape unrolled for service. Fig. 3 is an elevation with the case partly broken away and showing the metallic braces by which the strain of the fireescape is distributed on the washboard and window-sill. Fig. 4 is a 'vertical sectional elevation on the plane indicated by the dotted line 4 4 of Fig. 3 and showing the lladdercasing in cross-section. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the roller-shaft with the laddercables attached thereto. Fig. b' is aplan view of the roll-shaft shown by Fig.`5. Fig. 7 is a vertical cross-section through the roll-shaft on the plane indicated by the dotted line '7 7 of Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is au enlarged detail view of one end of the ladder-rung and a portion of the ladder-cable, showing the improved joint between the parts; and Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of the bracket by which the ladder-cables may be held away from the face of the wall.

i Like numerals of reference denote like and corresponding parts in each of the several figures of the drawings.

l designates a portion of the Window-sill, and 2 is the washboard to which are to be applied the vertical metallic bars 3, which serve to distribute the strain of the fire-escape ladder on the window-sill and to strengthen the latter when weight is imposed on the ladder by a person descending or ascending the same. `A series of these vertical bars 3 are employed between the sill and washboard, and the lower ends of the bars are firmly and solidly secured to the washboard by the screws 4 or their equivalents. The upper ends of the Vertical brace-bars are provided with openings through which are adapted to be passed the eyebolts that serve to attach the laddercasing in position beneath the window-sill and to fasten the ladder-cables to the casing and the sill, as will presently appear.

The casing is indicated in its entirety by 95 the numeral 5, and it is constructed in two sections 6 and 7, each section consisting of a pair of semicircular heads or end pieces, which are of cast metal, and a semicylindrical wall or shell, preferably of sheet metal roo y and rigidly joined to thecast-metal end pieces or heads. kThe sections 6 7 are joined together at one edge by the hinge 8,and'the lower or base section` 7 of the casing is formed with a vertical face-9, which is adapted to be applied against the upper perforated ends of the vertical brace-bars. In this vertical face 91of thelower base-section 7 of said casing are provided the openings or slots 10, which are adapted to coincide with the apertures in the vertical brace-bars, and through the slotted portion of the casing and the apertured brace-A bars is passed the series of eyebolts 11, which correspond in number to the brace-,bars and have their threaded shanks embedded inthe` sill 1, whereby the' bolts are adapted to fasten the casing and the brace-bars to the window-sill.

The lower base-section 7 ofthe casing has notches 14, which are adapted to aline or coincide with the notches in thev heads of the lower casingsection, and these alin ed notches inthe two casing-sections are adapted to form bearings for the journals of the roll-shaft. rLhisroll-shaft 15 isr of comparativelysmall diameter,and at its ends said shaft is equipped with the heads 16, which confine the iiexible'y ladder as it is coiled on said shaft. The roll"- shaft*` is further provided with the journals 11.7, wl 1ich are in axial relation to the shaft andl ext-end from the heads 16 thereof, the extremities of the roll-journals being headed, as at 1'8. The roll, with the ladder coiled thereon, is adapted to fit inthe notchesjot'l the lowerbase-section of the casing, and the upper hingedseetion of the casingri's'then closed over the latter to have the notches14 ilr the end pieces of said casing-section fit tlhe-roll-journals, thus confining the roll and theexibl'e 'ladder within the sectional casing; The roll-shaft is provided with a series; of circumferential grooves 1'9, which are spaced apart a distance equivalent ytothe spacesbetween the ladder-cables, and said roll-shaft is further providedwith la straight longitudinal groove 20, which int`eisectswith the circumferential grooves. To attach the ladder-cables to the' roll-shaft, we employ a fastening-rod 21, which-is housed or contained within the longitudinal groove'20fof theV rollof jthe-roll'gan d thisrod 21 issuitably attach ed tothesolid ends of the roll or the heads thereof byiittingin suitable apertures in the roll ends orl the heads. The rod 21 extends across `the' circumferential grooves 12),and` it serves toattach all-` of the ladder-cablesto the rollshaft. j I y The-nexible ladder con-templates the enlploymentfof 'a series of' longitudinal cables,

preferably of wire, and a plurality of rungs which are attached tothe cables in a peculiar way, and the ladder-cables 22,l are provided at their ends with loops 23, Ywhich are formed by bending or doubling the ends of the cables upon themselves and uniting them securely to the cables bythe couplings or joints 24, said joints being composed of metal whichv is cast around' the'd'ouble ends of the cables, although this is., notV strictlynecessary. The ladder-rungs 25 are of metal, and

. each rung is provided with pairs of collars 26,

which are spaced apart on therungs corresponding to the ladder-cables, and the collars of each pairare arranged on the rung to pro- 'videan annular grooveor channel 27. The ladder-cables are woven or entwined around the grooved portions of the rungs, so as to be confined between the collars 2.6, thus holding the cables against sliding displacement on the rungs. Y v l To project the ladder when in service be yond thev face of ythe wall4 and to keep the strands of the ladder in spaced relation to each other at the place wherethey pass over the windowssil'l, we employ abracket 29, which is fastened rigidly to the sill onrthe outsideof. a building, as shown by Fig. 4, said bracket extending'outwardly in a horizontal direction from the sill forthe reception of the ladder-cables. In Fig. 9 of the drawings this bracket is represented as consisting of a stout metallic bar 3, whichis bent to provide the off- SetsSO, and the freeends ot'` said bar are extended inwardly to `form the short arms 3l, that are adapted to bear against the sill and to be attached thereto by screws or othersuitable devices. This horizontal',v bracket is thus designed to be fastened rigidly to thesill on the outside of the building for theladder-cables to. rest thereon, andl the offsets ofsaid bracket are spaced to form guards forthe cables, so as to preventl them from slipping off the ends of the crossbar.

The loops or eyes 29 at one end of, the ladder-cables are attached to theroll-shaft by the fasteningfrod 21, which passes through the lseries of eyes to attach theladder-cables by la single device to the roll-shaft, and the other' ends of the ladder-cables are loosely connect- .ed with the fixed eyebolts 11 by.. the links or swivels 32whichmay be of any'approvedconstruction. n Y

Whentheladder is not inuse, it is coiled -compactly on the roll'-sl1 aft andthe entire structure is placed in the lower section of the casing for the journals 17 of the roll-shaft to rest in the notches of the lower casing-section, after which the upper hinged casingis loweredA to inclosek theladder within the casing. To use the apparatus, it is only neces; sary to raise the hinged section of the casing in an upward and outward direction andthen remove the ladder from saidcasing. The lad-A der may be thrown out of the Window, and it uncoi'ls as it drops toward the ground. The

ladder is adapted to be coiledV in an exceedingly-compact condition upon. the roll-shaft,

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struction may be made by a skilled mechanic"V without departing from the spirit 0r sacricing the advantages of the invention, and We therefore reserve the right to make such modiiications as clearly fall Within the scope of the invention. Y

' Having thus described the invention, what We claim is l. In a dre-escape, a roll-shaft provided with a series of circumferential grooves and with a longitudinal groove which intersects the circumferential grooves, in combination with a ladder `the cables of which are provided With loops or eyes, and a single fastening-rod fitted in the loops of all the laddercables and attached to the roll-shaft to lie Within the longitudinal groove thereon, substantially as described.

2. In a lire-escape, a flexible ladder having each of its cables provided at one end with a loop or eye, a roll-shaft provided with circu mferential grooves to receive said cables and their loops, and a single fastening-rod attached to the roll-shaft to intersect the grooves thereof inside of the peripheral plane of the roll and passing through the eyes of all the' ladder-cables, whereby theladder may be' coiled compactly on said roll-shaft with the 35 rungs lying against the roll, substantially as described.

3. In a fire-escape, the combination With a flexible ladder having a series of cables, of a roll-shaft provided with the intersectingan- 4o nular and longitudinal grooves, and a single fastening device which is secured to said rollshaft in the longitudinal groove thereof and is engaged with the series of ladder-cables, substantially as described. Y

4. In a fire-escape, a fixed bracket bent from a single piece of metal and provided on its cross-bar with end osets, forming ladderguards, combined With a flexible ladder having its spaced cables fitted between said o- 5o sets and passing over the bracket to be held thereby away from a Wall, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own We have hereto aiiixed our signatures 55 in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

MICHAEL SHIRES. JOHN Q. A. KENNEDY. Witnesses for Shires:

J. W. HAZELL, A. GRENOBLE. Witnesses for Kennedy:

HORACE R. Rosn, C. I-I. SUPPES, Jr. 

